


I'd Be Your Shield

by babieken



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Angst, Captain Korea!Hoseok, Happy Ending, Hoseok is pretty broken..., I'll add tags as we go but for now, M/M, Winter Soldier!Shownu, it's gonna okay guys!!!! im cruel but im not THAT cruel, marvel AU, showho marvel au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:00:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29766225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babieken/pseuds/babieken
Summary: Hoseok could’ve saved him. If they had let him jump he could’ve caught him, and if Hoseok had taken the fall, they would have probably survived. He had the serum, he had taken pretty huge hits, he could’ve survived it. They could’ve survived it together. But here Hoseok was, more than half a century later, living, breathing, fighting, killing, and dying every day.
Relationships: Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	I'd Be Your Shield

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Wonho Day <3  
> (I've come to hurt you guys)  
> (Oh also you can listen to lose and losing you (slow reverb, slow with rain, etc while reading)  
> 

The old lock rattled as Hoseok turned the key and unlocked the door to the old apartment. The inside still smelled weird, a smell Hoseok had found was the smell of new things these days. He wondered when it would go away. Probably not anytime soon since he was barely home, sometimes having to leave for days on a mission, weeks even. He wasn’t home to cook, to make coffee, do laundry (most of his clothes would tear, burn, get bloody before he’d get to wash them), or even open the windows. He sighed as he toed off his shoes and stepped into the apartment. It looked almost the same as it used to be. Almost.

The 21st century was an interesting era. You could look anything up in tiny rectangular devices and even buy things with just a few taps. You could find almost anything online so he had found a lot of the now ‘vintage’ furniture they used to have but they called them ratty back then. Hoseok actually had to fight the museum to give him back the remaining of his personal belongings. They were going to auction them soon. Hoseok was lucky; if he had woken up a month later they would all be gone. His photos. Their photos. 

He stood there looking at the framed black and white picture on the counter. It was him and Hyunwoo, after finishing their first mission successfully together with Hyunwoo’s arm around his shoulder as they looked at each other with the biggest smiles on their dirty faces like no one else in that room mattered. And, in that moment, it didn’t. Hoseok had managed to save Hyunwoo and his unit when everyone else had given up, and it was like Hoseok had saved the world. Hyunwoo was his world, and he was Hyunwoo’s.

Walking straight to the kitchen he opened the fridge and took out the leftover take-out from the other night, one of the other wonders of the modern days. The mission had been short, he was gone for only one night so it should be fine. The fridges are also a lot better these days, Hoseok couldn’t imagine anything going bad in something that looked like _That._ He didn’t even bother heating it up, he just grabbed a spoon and ate while standing over the counter so he could eat as fast as possible then take a shower and pass out on the too-big bed. Hoseok cursed himself every day for buying a queen size bed that looked exactly like the one they had. When he was trying to make the place look as familiar as possible he didn’t think about how lonely it would feel without the person who made it feel like home. Hoseok had to call so many favors to buy the place. It was old and the owner (the grandson of the original owner) wanted to demolish and rebuild it but Hoseok managed to get it. It was still home. Every wall, every room, every corner held a memory, even if Hyunwoo was gone, and even if being there hurt more than it was a comfort, Hoseok wouldn’t move. He couldn’t. The pain and the memories were all he had left of Hyunwoo.

He stood under the shower, water running hot over his skin, staining his skin angry red but he needed it. It numbed him, even if only for a few minutes. That night he dreamt of that day. Like every other night (every night that he slept, that is), watching Hyunwoo fall off the train, his hand slipping right through Hoseok’s no matter how hard he tried, how tight he gripped or how loud he cried for help. He woke up drenched in sweat, eyes red, panting, vocal cords aching as if he had just screamed for him again. His whole face was wet along with his chest so he couldn’t tell if he had cried or not. But he certainly felt like doing so. And like every other night, he lied awake staring into the ceiling and wondering why he had to survive, being mad at their mates for not letting him jump after Hyunwoo, being mad at his body for surviving in ice for so long, being mad at the researcher who found him in the ice. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t be mad at Hyunwoo. He could still remember the way he smiled at him so brokenly with teary eyes as Hoseok was trying his damned hardest to pull him up, and right before he slipped through Hoseok’s grip, he mouthed a broken ‘I love you’. 

Hoseok could’ve saved him. If they had let him jump he could’ve caught him, and if Hoseok had taken the fall, they would have probably survived. He had the serum, he had taken pretty huge hits, he could’ve survived it. They could’ve survived it together. But here Hoseok was, more than half a century later, living, breathing, fighting, killing, and dying every day. And the worst part was, he didn’t know when it would end. No one knew how the serum affected aging. He wasn’t immortal, that much they knew but how long he had was a mystery. Hoseok had lost his fate a long time ago. It was sometimes between the fall and the symbolic funeral they had for Hyunwoo where they buried an empty coffin and the colonel gave a speech Hoseok didn’t hear a word of. He couldn’t believe anymore. How could there be a god so cruel to take a man so good from this world so soon? What had Hoseok done to deserve such punishment? Even if there was a god, Hoseok thought he wasn’t worth worshipping. A god so cruel is no god.

..

Everyone was always talking about global warming but somehow the winter felt much colder than Hoseok remembered. One would think he would be prone to the cold after being in ice for nearly 6 decades but Hoseok could help the hair on the back of his neck standing up from the cold. He pushed his fists deeper into his coat’s pocket as he walked the empty street. It was past nearly 4 am. Another sleepless night. But walking helped him clear his head, or that was what he told himself. He couldn’t help but wonder if the cold was because Hyunwoo wasn’t walking beside him, with his bigger hand wrapped around Hoseok’s. 

No matter how cold it was outside and on the streets, it was still better than being in the house, surrounded by things that made him think of Hyunwoo. He was always thinking about Hyunwoo but nothing specific, but in the house every little thing was a reminder of some memory Hoseok didn’t even know how he could still remember with so much detail. It was a curse. But the streets were so different from those times Hoseok could barely recognize anything. He couldn’t live in a house that wasn’t his house, even thinking about it made Hoseok’s skin crawl but he couldn’t stay in the house either. It just hurt so much. Hoseok secretly hoped he’d get called on a mission soon.

During the missions was the only time Hoseok wasn’t completely miserable. He had a goal; saving lives, and it had always been their goal. Hyunwoo and him were always going to enlist together, serve the country and their people together. It was the only thing keeping him going. 

He walked silently on the sidewalk, listening to the quiet of the city as it was just starting to wake up. Then there was a sound. A muffled voice. A woman. He stopped, listening closer. Another muffled cry. It was coming from a block away. Hoseok started running. It was kind of ironic how almost anywhere he went trouble followed. Or maybe he was the one following troubles. Who knows.

Just like he had guessed, it was some scumbag trying to mug a poor girl probably leaving from a night shift.

“Hey!” he called before taking action. In cases like these, it was usually all he had to do. Not everyone dared to pick a fight with Captain Korea. “Let her go!”

“Mind your own business fucker!” came from the mugger. The ally was dark, he probably didn’t recognize him.

Hoseok sighed, walking a few steps closer to where a flickering lamppost was standing. It was the girl who recognized him first.

“Captain!” She screamed.

Hoseok looked around, there was an old plastic toy (an ugly-looking dog toy) dropped beside the garbage can. Hoseok picked it up, weighing it in his hand, it was light. perfect.

“Shut your mouth! Who the hell is cap-” the toy hit mugger right in the forehead, causing him to let the girl go as he clutched his head in pain. The girl fell onto the pavement hard.

“Oh shit!” the scumbag finally realized who Hoseok was and started running. He wasn’t very fast, but the girl seemed hurt and shaken, so Hoseok let him go.

“Ma’am? Are you okay?” he crouched beside the shaking girl. 

The girl looked up with round teary eyes and nodded shakily. Hoseok gently wrapped his arms around her and helped her stand up and caught her as she almost stumbled back. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”

“T...thank you, Captain Lee. Thank you,” she stuttered, still holding onto Hoseok’s arms.

“It was nothing,” He smiled reassuringly. “Can you walk? I can get you to the hospital.”

“No, no I’m fine. I just need- a minute,” she panted.

“Of course.”

They stood there as she leaned onto him for support while catching her breath for a few minutes.

“There’s a police station two blocks down I’ll walk you there so we can report it. He probably hangs around the area and I saw his face,” Hoseok said when some color was back onto the girl’s face.

“Y..you really don’t have to! I’m sure you have more important things to do,” she shook her head, her cheeks dusted pink.

“Please, I insist.” Hoseok squeezed her arm gently to reassure her.

They walked to the station together, chatting comfortably on the way as she hugged Hoseok’s coat tighter around herself. The coat wasn’t doing anything for Hoseok anyway. It wasn’t his skin that was cold, it was his heart. They reported the incident after the shift officers stopped geeking over Hoseok and Hoseok rode with them as they dropped the girl off at her apartment in a police car. It was past 5 am already. Hoseok politely refused the drive to his own apartment. He preferred walking and the sun was coming out. Hoseok didn’t want to miss the chance to feel the fresh sunlight on his face. Maybe it would warm him just a little. After all, Hyunwoo was like sunshine.

On his way home, Hoseok thought about one of the nights they were walking in the streets. They used to go for late-night walks all the time, not that any of them had trouble sleeping when they had each other, but it was just they loved the calm and quiet of the street and of course they could hold hands and maybe even steal kisses when no one was around. That night, much like tonight, they had heard a cry and had run to help, it was a few years before Hyunwoo enlisted and more before Hoseok got the serum. But Hyunwoo was still tall and broad and strong. He used to beat Hoseok’s bullies all the time when they were kids. It was how they met and fell in love.

It was a drunk guy harassing this nurse walking home and it didn’t take more than a light punch from Hyunwoo to knock him out and Hoseok swore the girl fell in love with Hyunwoo on the spot. She had blushed to her ears when Hyunwoo held her hands to help her stand up and walked her to a small bench nearby. Hoseok wasn’t the jealous type but that night when they got back to their old ratty apartment Hoseok kissed Hyunwoo until they were breathless and rode him until the sun came up and they had to leave for their jobs. Hyunwoo had held him close and whispered praises and sweet nothings into his ear, assuring Hoseok that he was Hoseok’s and only Hoseok’s. He’d promised to love him until the day they died and would protect him no matter what. And he didn’t ever break his promises.

Halfway home, the sky went dark in a minute, the sunlight hidden behind dark clouds and it started running. Hoseok tilted his head back, letting the cold raindrops fall onto his face, he could barely feel them with how cold his face was. He walked a little faster, his clothes getting wet fast as the rain got heavier. Suddenly feeling warmth on his cheek Hoseok realized he was crying, hot tears silently running down his face as he was almost running the few remaining miles to his apartment. Tears were all he had left to keep him warm, he guessed.

..

“Where the hell are we even going?” Hoseok shouted over the sound wind and the chopper’s blades.

“A Shield base in Taebaek. There has been a break-in,” The commander shouted back before pointing to the headsets for Hoseok to wear so they wouldn’t have to shout.

Hoseok put the headset on his head and turned it on.

“I didn’t know Shield had a base in Taebaek,” Hoseok said with a raised brow. It was an odd place to have a base. “What’s it for?”

“It’s a science division. For experiments and shit.”

Hoseok blinked. He was not convinced.

“Experiments on what?”

“Classified.”

Hoseok was not happy with the amount of information he was given. Or not given since they didn’t tell him shit basically. Recently everything felt weird. Every mission Hoseok had to ask himself what he was doing. It all was starting to feel he was just a glorified mercenary.

They landed a few miles away from the main building of the base on an empty field nearby and went the rest of the way on foot to not alarm the culprit. Satellite heat scans showed only one person in the building. Hoseok wondered why they even called him in if it was just one person. Everything felt wrong.

“Why am I here Kim?” Hoseok asked as they were made their way through the field.

“What do you mean?” Hoseok stopped dead in his trach and grabbed the Commander’s arm and stopped him as well.

“Don’t play games with me! It’s just one person in there. Why am _I_ here?” 

The younger man sighed, pushing his helmet back and rubbing his temples.

“Look… we have reason to believe that this is the winter soldier.”

Hoseok scoffed. The winter soldier, aka Shield’s ghost story. Everyone swore they had encountered in some crazy situation and yet there was not a single piece of hard evidence he even existed. Hoseok thought the agents made him up to use when they failed a mission.

“Are you joking right now?”

“Am I laughing?”

“He’s not real!” Hoseok threw his hands up.

The legend dated back to the early 50. Even if he was real he would be 90 years old now. It just made no sense and Hoseok was not having this.

“With all due respect cap, shut up and run before we miss him.”

They arrived at the main building a few minutes later. Everything seemed normal, a bit too quiet even.

“What would the winter soldier even be looking for here? Age reversion potion? Is that what they make here?” Hoseok just couldn’t take this seriously. He was pretty sure it was some druggie accidentally getting through the insanely secure shield base. The chances of it would be higher than it being The winter fucking soldier. Hoseok recently watched a movie with the main character being all icy. What was it… Jack Frost? That was how Hoseok imagined the winter soldier to look like. 

“One of hydra’s weapon’s that shield has recently recovered,” The commander said like he was only answering to shut Hoseok up. “The tesseract.”

“The Tess-” Hoseok couldn’t believe his ears. He had gotten himself (almost) killed to make sure no one could find that damn thing. “The _Tesseract?_ You brought the Tesseract _here?_ You should’ve left it at the bottom of the ocean where _I_ left it!”

“It was not my call-” the commander shot back but Hoseok shushed him. He heard something.

“The target is moving, let’s go” He whispered after hearing the footsteps coming from above start to fade. One of the agents holding a tablet with the building’s blueprint pointed in the direction of the emergency stairs. Hoseok held his hand up, making everyone else stop.

“Stay here, I got this,” he ordered. Whoever this was, they were well trained. Hoseok could tell by the way they walked. The footsteps were so light yet fast even Hoseok with his enhanced hearing was having trouble hearing.

The building was old and only three stories. Hoseok climbed the stairs quietly and strode in the direction of the vault, it was on the other side of the building according to the blueprints. Hopefully the target didn’t know where it was. Hoseok just wanted to make sure they wouldn’t get it. He got to the door where he knew the vault was behind, he stood with his back to the wall beside the door, listening for any sign of activity as he held his shield tighter. No sound. 

A shadow crossed the hallway in front of him, disappearing before Hoseok could catch a proper look. What the hell? Hoseok blinked, squinting his eyes trying to see further into the hallway he just came from, then looking around. There was definitely something… 

He carefully took a few steps into the hallway. There were a few doors, all ajar just like they were when he walked past them a minute ago. He pushed one of the doors, standing behind it just to be sure and peeking inside. Nothing. Just a file room.

A sound came from the hallway. Hoseok turned around quickly facing the door to the vault room. And there he was.

A tall man, face covered with some kind of hard mask, dark customized combat gear that fit him perfectly, short hair with clean undercuts, and his most prominent feature; his metal arm. His build was similar to Hoseok’s, maybe bigger. He was definitely taller. They stood there for what felt like minutes but it was shorter than a breath before Hoseok struck first, throwing his shield directly at him but he was faster and ducked. The shield pierced through the wall halfway. Hoseok ran forward. He couldn’t let that man get into that vault. He couldn’t let hydra get its filthy hands on the tesseract again.

Hoseok didn’t really have the time to think but if he did, he would realize that maybe the stories weren’t all lies. The man fit most of the description of the Winter soldier that existed. There were almost no pictures of him, and the few pictures that existed were so blurry they didn’t even count; only shadows and one noisy picture of what was supposedly the infamous metal arm with the red star on the upper arm.

The man’s fighting style was unlike anything Hoseok had ever seen, let alone fought with. He knew Hoseok’s next move before even Hoseok knew. It felt like Hoseok had barely even touched the man as they fought. Hoseok hadn’t even landed one hit without getting blocked seemingly effortlessly. Somehow Hoseok managed to push them so the man’s back was against the wall right beside the shield. He pulled the shield out of the wall forcefully, hitting the man’s face with the back of it. The soldier’s goggles cracked on his face but the man didn’t even flinch. He tore them off his face and threw them onto the ground, giving Hoseok the first glimpse of his face.

Cold. freezing cold eyes. They were brown but they might as well be icy blue. They were frighteningly empty. People said he had dead eyes. One of the older retired agents he once met at another agent’s funeral told him that he saw the winter soldier’s face and that it haunts him to this day. ‘Whoever he was before hydra took him is long gone. That’s not a man anymore, it’s a killing machine. It has no soul,’ the man had told Hoseok and now he could see what he had meant. This was not the eyes of a man, all they could see was a target he was supposed to eliminate at any cost. And he was well trained to do so.

He launched himself at Hoseok first this time, a punch came aimed at Hoseok’s stomach but he managed to block with the shield, but it sent him back a few steps. The sound of metal on metal echoed through the hallway. Hoseok threw the shield at him again and he pushed it to the side with the back of his metal hand before it hit him like it was nothing. Hoseok struck again, jumping to wrap his legs around the man’s neck but the soldier flipped them both back so Hoseok hit the vault room’s door and broke it as they both fell onto the wood splitters. Fuck. 

Hoseok didn’t loosen the grip around the man’s neck but he flipped them and twisted Hoseok in a way he lost his leverage and had to let go. They were both back on their feet in a blink.

“I won’t let you take it,” Hoseok said, a little out of breath.

The soldier tilted his neck, cracking the joints while staring at Hoseok with his cold dead eyes. There was something familiar with his eyes but Hoseok couldn’t pinpoint. Finally, he pulled out a small knife, even though he was loaded with multiple guns and grenades and all sorts of other weapons. He flipped the knife between his fingers as he stepped closer, first slow. He aimed for Hoseok’s throat but Hoseok blocked it with his forearm. His shield was on the floor just a few steps away. The metal arm grabbed Hoseok’s other arm and twisted it until it forced Hoseok to turn around. The Soldier’s other arm wrapped around Hoseok's neck, trying to choke him to unconsciousness. Hoseok pushed them back until the soldier’s back hit a wall forcefully. The shield was right at the foot of Hoseok. With the tip of his boot Hoseok pushed at the edge of the shield causing the other side to swing up so he could grab it and used it to hit the man on the forehead with the hard metal. 

They fought for what seemed like hours but was probably no more than ten minutes. At one point it felt like dancing. He knew Hoseok’s moves and Hoseok was learning his so it was just an endless amount of hits that never landed. They broke everything that was in that room, chairs, tables, lamps, even walls. Hoseok had some blood dripping from the side of his lip and the soldier had a small but deep cut above his brow, blood running down his temple and the corner of his eye. With the back of his hand Hoseok wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and with his other hand gestured for the soldier to come at him, a tired smirk on his face. “I can do this all night.”

The man ran his finger through his short hair, brushing the damp bangs off his forehead. There was something about him… While Hoseok was busy watching the man’s face he had rolled a small grenade where Hoseok was standing in front of the vault. Hoseok only had time to jump as far as he can and use his shield to protect himself from the explosion. It didn’t break the metal of the vault but it burned everything around it. Hoseok was still recovering from the blast when the soldier pulled a strange-looking gun and shot at the vault. It wasn’t a gun, instead it shot a device. Hoseok had no idea what it was but it made the hot metal freeze instantly until it broke. No, no nono…

Hoseok got up and launched at the man trying to stop him from going into the vault but he kicked Hoseok who was still dizzy in the center of his chest, causing him to fall onto the broken pieces of a table and hit his head on the corner of the table. Everything went black for a second. By the time Hoseok had blinked his vision back, the man was on his way into the vault. He pushed the broken piece of what was the vault’s door to reveal the inside. It was empty. The container which held the tesseract was there, Hoseok had seen it in one before but it was now empty. 

The soldier turned around to look at Hoseok in confusion and fury. Shield had set this whole thing up. They were both played. Hoseok let out a sigh of relief before throwing his head back for a second before he went to stand up but the soldier was in front of him, his booth hit Hoseok in the face causing him to fall back again. When Hoseok opened his eyes the man was standing by the window looking back at Hoseok with his cold angry eyes. They were slightly less dead now, there was one emotion in them and that was one emotion more than none. Before Hoseok could even move the man disappeared into the darkness. Hoseok couldn’t even tell if he climbed up or jumped down. He just disappeared. Where the hell was everybody else?

Hoseok finally stood up and ran to the window, looking both up and down and to the sides, there was no sign of the soldier. He dragged himself down, a splitter had gone into this leg when he fell onto the table. When he reached the ground floor where he had left his team he found everyone in their assigned positions but unconscious. He quickly checked everyone’s vitals, they were all alive. None of their communication devices worked but he needed to call for backup. He pulled the splitter out of his leg -it hadn’t hit an artery- and wrapped it tightly before running to the chopper. Maybe the communicator in the chopper still worked.

..

_Hyunwoo’s lips tasted like dirt, gunpowder and blood but Hoseok couldn’t care less as he sucked the bruised lips into his mouth, making the older growl and tighten his grip around Hoseok’s middle._

_‘Seokie… slow down baby, I’m not going anywhere.”_

_Hoseok wanted to shut his eyes and just kiss Hyunwoo harder but he couldn’t. His heart hurt so bad it felt like it was splitting in half in Hoseok’s chest. He wanted to cry out but he couldn’t._

_That was when he realized this was the dream. One of the many reoccurring dreams Hoseok had, tho this one less frequent than most of them. It was their last night together, before the fall. Their first night after being apart for months, almost a year that turned out to also be their last forever. Hoseok was stuck reliving it with no way to wake up or make things go any different._

_His back was pressed against the wall of the ratty motel room they were spending the night in, Hyunwoo’s hands mapping every inch of his new body. Hoseok remembered how scared he was to meet Hyunwoo like this for the first time, afraid that Hyunwoo would hate it. Hate him. But when Hyunwoo pulled him into his arms, still towering over him after Hoseok broke the chains around him, everything clicked. The whole world made sense again. Breathing made sense again._

_‘I’m not going anywhere.”_

_Hoseok wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted to shout and call Hyunwoo on his lie. But instead, he kissed him slower, like he did that night as they made love until sunrise, barely catching an hour of sleep before they had to go on another rescue mission. The one that would cost Hoseok everything._

_Hoseok blinked his eyes open, head pillowed on Hyunwoo’s solid chest, running the pads of his fingers over the older’s cheeks, his nose, and his cupid bow. Hyunwoo was going to wake up any moment, so Hoseok kept watching, memorizing every little detail of his lover’s face that he’d missed so much. He closed his eyes and planted a gentle peck on the corner of Hyunwoo’s mouth. They had to leave soon. But when he opened his eyes, Hyunwoo looked… different._

_This was not what happened. The dream had never changed before…_

_Hyunwoo was still Hyunwoo but there was something awfully off about him. His cheeks were more hollow and his cheekbones and jaw more prominent. His skin was pale and his hair looked shorter, and maybe a shade darker._

_He flinched when Hyunwoo’s eyes snapped open and instead of the deep chocolate brown eyes Hoseok had fallen in love with years ago, cold empty eyes looked back at him._

Hoseok gasped for air as his body jolted awake. The dream… He couldn’t decide if the change made it better or worse. In all the time Hoseok was out of the ice all he dreamt of was the past, everything in perfect detail and without a single change, but not tonight.

Those cold empty eyes… they were haunting Hoseok now, as if he didn’t have enough baggage already. But seeing Hyunwoo with those eyes was so wrong, Hoseok felt like he couldn’t breathe. He pushed the covers away and walked to the window, the wound from the fight almost completely healed even though it was less than 24 hours ago. He opened the window, hoping the fresh air would help him breathe.

He had walked back to the chopper on his own with a bleeding leg and had called for help just to be scolded for not going after the target. He had spent the rest of the day filling report papers and answering questions to the Director.

“Why didn’t you go after him?”

“He vanished.”

“Why did you leave your team?”

“If he wanted them dead he would’ve used a lethal gas. He was gone after he found out that you set him up. But maybe if you had told me about this insane plan or even who I was going against maybe I could’ve come up with better strategies.”

They had gone back and forth all day and Hoseok was so tired of answering the same questions over and over again. That whole mission was pointless. The Director used him to capture one of the most wanted hydra agents in the last 4 decades and he didn’t even give Hoseok the courtesy of telling him beforehand but Hoseok shouldn’t expect more from a spy. So when they finally said he could go and get his leg checked out he refused and just jumped on his bike and rode home. The wound would heal on his own, he didn’t want to be in the HQ another minute more than necessary. He just wanted to take a shower and sleep and try to forget about those haunting soulless eyes.

..

“This isn’t right,” Hoseok mumbled to himself as he threw his leg over his bike and settled down on the seat. It was the third time he was denied to meet with the director. He was avoiding him. Avoiding his question. And Hoseok had many.

Where was the Tesseract? What were they doing to it? And most importantly why were they hiding it from Hoseok? And The director obviously avoiding him wasn’t really helping his case. Hoseok couldn’t just sit back and trust them. He would not take orders from someone who kept secrets from him. Secrets that concerned him and his country -hell the whole world. So Hoseok was forced to take matters into his own hands.

One of the few good things about being famous was that people would do things for him. Like he could just show up at one of the nerds’ desk who worked at Shield and they would give him anything, find him anything. But Hoseok wasn’t the type of man to take advantage of people so he asked for small favors, nothing that would get the nerds in too much trouble. A list of all the bases Shield had around the country, their locations, and what field each one worked for, and then it was up to Hoseok to connect the dots. He took a few personal days off and rented a car, the man assured him it was the most reliable for road trips and the most comfortable, not that Hoseok cared all that much, and hit the road. 

One of the many downsides of being famous was that he couldn’t do anything himself anonymously. And with him looking like _that_ it was near impossible to disguise himself. So he had to watch, from afar. You’d be surprised how much you get just by watching people getting in and out of somewhere and occasionally listening to them chat as they pass by.

He traveled all over the country, staying at each town where Shield had a base or even a garage under their name, he’d observe, take photos and notes, and off to the next town. There were times when he was filling the gas tank or shopping at the supermarket, or when he’d leave his motel room for a walk after being woken up by nightmares, he felt like he was being watched. Like the prickling feeling you get at the back of your neck when someone is staring at you before catching them. He was so careful to not leave any tracks and made sure no one was following him but the feeling never went away.

One of the most suspicious locations, a seemingly small and unimportant base where they supposedly sent the old files to be cataloged and sorted and then be added to the new database, didn’t even show up on the map and it had far too few employees for the amount of work they were supposedly doing.

Hoseok had parked half a block away from the building, watching people come and go with a binocular. Way too few people. The building was too big and compared to the others it was located in the most deserted area. Why would they make this one their old archive? He also noticed there were two people who didn’t leave the building for two days. Unless the building had another secret exist but why would they leave secretly on a normal day. And when one of them finally came out of the building 50 hours after he’d gone in, he looked almost sick. The other one didn’t leave until later that night and he looked even worse than the other one. Hoseok watched him get into his car and rest his head against the steering wheel. 20 minutes passed and the man didn’t move. An hour. It was 2 am and the mad hadn’t moved a muscle. He couldn’t have fallen asleep like that… surely he’d wake up.

Eventually, Hoseok decided to go check on him, the man didn’t look fine when he walked out of the building and Hoseok had a bad feeling. He put a cap he’d bought from a small shop on the road and got out of the car. Carefully approaching the man’s car Hoseok looked around to make sure no one else was around. There was no CCTV in sight either, which was also strange. But the feeling was back again, being watched. Hoseok was starting to think it was in his head. He watched the man from a few feet away, looking for any sign of movement but from where Hoseok was looking it didn’t even seem like the man was breathing. He couldn’t just do nothing if the man needed help so he walked to the car and tapped on the window.

“Hello? Sir, are you okay?” He called, but no answer. The car wasn’t locked, so he opened the driver’s door. He shook the man gently first and then a bit harder. Nothing. He checked for a pulse and… there was none. The man was dead. He walked out of the building and to his car and then… died. There was nothing Hoseok could do and he had to leave him for others to find him tomorrow. He couldn’t risk being seen. But he couldn’t just leave either.

According to his observations of the people going in and out of the building, there shouldn’t be anyone in there right now, so he had to take a risk and go in. It was his best shot. He carefully searched the man’s pockets for his pass key and closed the door, wiping the handle with his sleeve from his fingerprints. ‘Ko Minjae’ read on the pass key card. He looked young on the ID picture, 35 maybe. With a heavy heart, Hoseok made his way into the building.

Passing the guard was way too easy. The night shift guy was a smoker and took more smoke breaks than actually working so Hoseok slipped into the building with no trouble. There was a big lobby, a reception and some office couches filling up space. Hoseok walked to one of the couches and dragged a finger on top of the backrest. There was a thick layer of dust sitting on it.

The whole area looked stage and not actually used. This whole building was just a front. Hoseok sighed, of course, it was all fake. They were hiding something here. Even if it wasn’t the Tesseract it was something shady that they didn’t want anyone to know about. He walked to the elevator beside the reception desk and pushed the button. The door opened without making any ding sound or playing any music. As expected, the buttons didn’t work until a keycard was swiped. Hoseok swiped the card and pressed the button for the lowest level. The Cube had radiations that could be tracked so Ideally, they’d wanna conceal it as best as possible. They would probably insulate an entire floor.

It didn’t take long for the elevator door to open silently on the floor minus seven. Almost all lights were turned on, unlike the lobby where there were little to no lights on, just a small lamp on the reception desk. The space was much smaller than the ground floor, it looked more like a wide hallway and there were only two doors. One was an emergency escape that only opened from the inside and the other was another passkey protected door. Hoseok let out a sigh and walked to the door, swiping the key and hoping the dead man had clearance for this room. He did. He pushed through the giant door and went straight in and didn’t hear the elevator’s door silently close and move up.

Another hallway. Hoseok was starting to feel like this was a maze trap but he kept going until he got to another door, this one not locked. The door would open by pushing a red button. Cyan light was coming from the small window on the door. This was it. He had found the god damn cube.

There it was, in the middle of the room inside some kind of container. There were three tables and two chairs in the room and thousands of notes scattered on the tables and taped to the walls. Numbers, graphs, shapes Hoseok didn’t recognize. Hoseok had to take it and leave as soon as possible. There must be something around the room to carry the cube with. They got it here somehow right? There was a box buried under a ton of notes in a corner, Hoseok pulled it out and opened it. Yup, this was it.

It was almost too late when Hoseok finally heard the footstep. Those familiar impossibly light footsteps that could only belong to one man. Hoseok acted normal, he got up and walked to the container but he was completely alert so when a bullet was shot at him he was ready. The bullet was shot through the small window on the door, breaking it as it shot towards Hoseok but he was fast and turned his back on it so his shield would cover him. He was quick to grab his shield and turn around to face the man.

And there he was, standing at the now open door with his gun aimed at Hoseok. So he wasn’t crazy thinking someone was watching him. But he still couldn’t understand how the man could follow him without Hoseok knowing but it was too late to think about that. The soldier looked the same except his hair was slightly longer, his bangs going down to his brows almost, and he wasn’t wearing goggles, just the mask. Was that his only pair that Hoseok broke? Or did he not care since Hoseok had already seen his eyes? Or did he somehow know how much Hoseok dreaded seeing his eyes again?

“How did you get in?” Hoseok asked because he had to have had a passkey to get past the doors. Hoseok had made sure to close them behind him. To Hoseok’s surprise, the man lowered his gun and tucked it behind him, and then reached into a small pocket on his chest and pulled out a keycard and threw it at Hoseok’s feet. Hoseok crouched down without taking his eyes off the soldier or lowering his shield and grabbed the card. He stood back up quickly and had a quick glance at it. The first thing he noticed was that it was bloody. And the picture looked like the other employee who had left earlier that day who also looked sick.

“Did you kill him?” Hoseok asked, not really expecting an answer. And he didn’t get one. 

“I don’t suppose you play by the rule of ‘finders keepers’?” Hoseok joked, mentally preparing himself for possibly hours of fighting. No one would hear them here and they had hours until someone would show up. 

The man tilted his head, his left eye twitching slightly.

“Then let’s get this over with.”

The soldier advanced toward Hoseok and threw a hard kick at him that hit the shield and threw Hoseok across the room. He went to push a button on the container but Hoseok threw the shield at his hand, the shield piercing through the air like a bullet but the soldier was no ordinary man. It felt like time slowed down as Hoseok watched him lift his metal arm in a blink and caught the Shield in the air. By the time he threw the shield back at Hoseok with possibly more force, Hoseok was on his feet and launching at him.

They were back to dancing the practiced dance of the close combat they both knew they were too good at. It felt just like the other week. Hoseok could smell blood and gunpowder on the soldier. His gear was black but it was probably still damp with the blood of the other scientist he had just killed. 

The metal arm had somehow found its way around Hoseok’s neck, the metal palm and fingers felt oddly warm against Hoseok’s skin. Too warm. Hoseok was pushed to the wall behind him, hard, he felt like he put a hole into the wall with his body. In return, Hoseok punched him under the chin causing the man to stumble back. Hoseok used the few short seconds he had before the soldier gathered himself up to strike again. Another hard punch in the face, right on the hard mask that ripped the skin of Hoseok’s knuckles.

He looked slightly pissed when he looked up to Hoseok. They both bolted towards each other, meeting halfway as they started battling again. They circled around the room and around the container. Not that Hoseok was counting, but it felt like they were equal in the number of punches they’d thrown at each other, and they both had a long way to go until they get tired. Hoseok imagined the soldier to be like him. Made in a lab.

Hoseok had his arms locked around the soldier’s neck, knowing he’d flip them over after fighting him twice, and when he did, Hoseok was ready and landed on his legs instead of hid back and in return flipped the other with his grip still iron tight around him. Hoseok could see the mask roll on the floor. The man was quick to get up, his back to Hoseok before he turned his face towards him.

Time froze. Hoseok felt the air in his lung catch on fire. Felt his insides crumble onto themselves.

No.

_No._

How could it be-? No...no no no. This wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t…

“ _Woo_?” Hoseok had called, his voice sounding distant and strange to his own ears.

Right in front of him stood his best friend and the love of his life. His whole world. But it wasn’t _him_. The man in front of him couldn’t be his Hyunwoo. Everything about him felt wrong. Looked wrong.

Gone with deep chocolate brown eyes that used to look at Hoseok like he’d hung the stars in the sky, gone with the soft round cheeks and Hoseok couldn’t stop caressing and kissing after Hyunwoo shaved every morning. Gone with satin-soft hair Hoseok would run his fingers in when Hyunwoo couldn’t sleep.

This was a shell that looked like Hyunwoo but at the same time looked so different from how Hoseok remembered his Hyunwoo. This one had cold soulless eyes, sharp cheekbones and hollow cheeks with a hint of stubble, his forehead seemed longer, his lips were pale and chapped and he had bags under his eyes. No… no this couldn’t be Hyunwoo.

“Who the hell is Woo?” came a rough voice from the soldier. No, Hoseok refused to believe it.

Hoseok felt the walls close in on him. It was Hyunwoo’s voice, it was a bit rougher but it was _his_ voice. 

While Hoseok was having an internal crisis the unmasked soldier grabbed Hoseok’s shield from the floor and flung it across the room aiming at the container. The glass cracked and in a second an alarm went off, the lights turned off and instead a flickering red light flashed inside the room. The doors started to close and in a blink, the soldier -Hyunwoo- was gone. Disappeared.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yea... so this is happening. You can blame Men's Health magazine for the Captain Korea idea...  
> Please let me know what you think? I'm really excited about this work! Me and Opie cried about this so much...  
> As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated ꒰˘̩̩̩⌣˘̩̩̩๑꒱♡ your comments make my day guys!!!  
> I usually write one chapter ahead but I made an exception this time because it's wonho day, so the next chapter might a bit longer than it usually takes me to post (or not).  
> ps:if you're not familiar with marvel au and want to read this please message me on Tumblr @hyunubear or leave a comment and I'll try to explain if you're confused about something!  
> Hope you enjoyed (the pain)  
> 


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